Technology and the Decline of Procreation

No one's having kids. Do you know how hard you need to abuse a mammal to make them not have children Hello and welcome to the Trol where we sift through the week's political debris and ask, wasas there really no one in the room who thought this might backfire? I'm Gemma Forte. And I'm Marina Perkis, and today we're going to be looking at how difficult it is for young people to find work these days the new phenomenon that is Nes, i. e, not in education employment or training. So we're going to look a little bit about how we've got here as a country and more importantly, what can be done to improve their outlook We found some of the most interesting commentary and takes. Smmer I mean, the pudding, just wait for the pudding guys. An seem Me and Gemma are political anoraxs. We find this kind of thing interesting and we assume you do too Why are you're listening? Yeah, and it's interesting, we were also pondering the other day, Marina and I that sometimes We find it quite hard to relate to the millions of people who are more normal than us, who probably couldn't tell you who the Chancellor of the Exchquer is And yet they care deeply and are very, very invested in the soap opera, for instance, that is Katie Price's life, okay? So It's a funny thing because obviously we go on sort of the channel five shows and if you're on the Jeremy Vinehow, absolutely, the main debates are Usually a bit of current affairs in there, sometimes a lighter one, especially on a Friday. And then you get the papers. And then within the papers, they do cover like a wide variety of types of stories. And I'll be honest, sometimes the odd light one, it sort of diffuses the tension in the studio. So if you've had a massive bary about, I don't know, Nigel Farge or something then actually it can be sort of a welcome relief to talk about something completely ridiculous. somethingomething like I heard the other day that vegan cheese in France is called faumage Brilliant. So that said, we just wanted to sort of like push this theme a little more in terms of why don't we care about this stuff when so many people do? What you mean? pet your Pice? Yeah I mean it's been hard to avoid. Eactly. So here's Jamie East and celebrity Trenches on an update on what has happened to the husband who she reported missing. Now in case you're one of those people who like this is the kind of stuff that just bypasses you totally, what happened was, yeah, her husband is sort of just went off missing somewhere. and Katie claimed very dramatically that he was missing. I think she called the police, I'm not sure. And then it's all unfolded. Anyway, here's Jane East. Guy's Katie Price's husband been found. Apparently he's in jail. He phoned her this morning He's been arrested. Espionage Espionage. Do that sound sound like a Leandrew's type crime. Katie, just run away. please just walk away. be hashtag kind to yourself, block him, delete his number, throw out his clothes Just tell him to Bck off. I feel for her. There's so many people saying she's inet I don't think she's in on it I think Katie Pice, as long as I, you know, she's been in my sort of consciousness back in the days when she was with what was that footballer? who was baby Daddy? Dwightight York. Yeah. like, you know, she was I grew up when she was all over the Ladsmags And I think she just she just loves love, right? She loves love. She wants she's always wanted to find love. She was with Peter Andre and my God, if you look at some of the footage of when they had their relationship filmed Peter Andre was Horrendous, horrendous to her. I think she's been through the absolute mill. I think she's very, very vulnerable and this Gy Ka looks exactly like her type, right Hsome looking chap Apparently it sounds like he's got this string of this history of duping women And I think he saw Katie Bryice and thought Chitching My feeling is she's struggling to come to terms with what's happening to her and the actual reality, which is the case, right? When someone betrays you, you struggle to come to terms with the reality of that situation, which is why my heart goes out to her My heart goes out to h. That sounded very fun when you said that. What why my heart goes out to h. You sounded then like there are dozens of podcasts who like they're doing whole episodes out of this. And that's the bit that blows my mind because I don't know. And actually somebody called Christy Nate forty four wrote under that clip, whyy are you interested in Katie Pryice and that guy? Why aren't you interested in the famine in Sudan or Gaza You can be both. You can be both. You can be both. likeike I say sometimes. but sadly, not many people are both Oh no M, way more are more. they could tell you the ins and outs of that story, but not even be aware there is a famine in Sudan. But it's the difference between, likes say you've got the night to yourself, Jemma and you want to chill out. what are you going to do? Are you going to put on maths or you going to put on a documentary about the famine in Sudan Probably a bit of both again. Just really pepper it up. a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Oh my Godd, rivals is back. Oh and o it's so good. Aiden Turner actor Aiden Turner who is in rivals is currently My number one. He's lovely looking. I've got a confession. I'm going to do it live trarawlers. Marina does not know this Oh gosh. So when it comes to us booking our guests and everything, we have quite different approaches. like Marina iss a little more demure and if we go to like a party or something, I stomp up to people go h' from the troll. You want to be on the troll? She goes, for God's sake, be alluring. Anyway, we've done all right. We've managed to get some great guests by hook or by crook. Anyway last night I was watching rivals and I thought I'm gonna give Dany Dyer a go again It hasn't gone well. So bearing in mind, I looked back the last time I approached Danny was nineteenth of february, twenty twenty four. And at that point, this is my DMs on Instagram. he said, Ah, the lovely Gema. Yes, this is something I could potentially get amongst with you both. I've got lots of exciting projects coming out this year and I'd rather tie it into the rounds of press I'll love to do. I'm such tabloid foder that the twats that we call the media will have a field day with the honest ship comes out my mouth. Could you potentially wait a couple of months Danny Dyer. So okay, that's like so far from a no. I'd say that's way more a yes, right? Encouraged by that. I wrote a very good message back We bonded. and then he actually said in his next message I told him I' written a script he was attached to at one point, it never happened. He was like, N never give up, Gemma. And he said, I'll mark my PR company's card on your podcast and I'll look forward to assassinating the elite Tory piss taking fuckers with you and Marina very soon and a heart eightighth of April, I went back fififteenth of july twenty twenty four, I went back Oh, On the twenty eighth of October hearted a story that I'd done So there's been nothing for two years. Last night he got Me again So you Sory g. M again Youre gonna come on the troll? You're still our dream gast He's seen it The response P will wait with baited breath I'll keep going. It'll be like twenty twenty nine. Allo Dny. Me again, M again. I feel like leaving two years is enough space that you won't unfollow me or block me feel like we're allright. You don't become a pest. No, and the original response was so encouraging. And if you encourage me,y's a busy man now he's got a lot of going on. He's a huge, huge star. If anybody out there knows Danny, though, give him a nudge. tellell him me he you'd have a fabulous time. That's it, that's all that there is in it for him. G. Anyway, back to the Katie Price debacle. Sorry, I got really distracted then, but I thought you might find that interesting There was one turn of events with this Katie Pryice story that made me chuckle and perhaps in a slightly mean way, but be with me, this was on the Jeremy Vine show where they were discussing it with their full chest Just have a listen son, I found Lee, he's in jail for spying. This is Katie Price, who now has weirdly dedicated a song to her husband and we will post this. She put it on Instagram over a montage O pictures of her and Lee. shall we have a list of it? Yes. You rself old You have a train would swim ro to go Number one, she's a businesswoman I know what I'll do. Bang out a single But also I like very Gee Star Mza said. I never thought you could hear turkey teeth. Turns out I am going to disagree with you veryer strongly and I'm not laughing. And I'm going to say I think she's a heartbroken woman. So I'll get in the studio and put my cans on. I mean we all deal with grief differently, right We all deal with it differently. Katie, I'm seeing Katie all the way I'm not saying I think that's a bad thing. I don't actually know what I think the whole thing is. freaking baffling to me. So let's end this very untroal like section, but then we will get back to normal practice. Remember, we have academics that listen to us. We have MPs that listen to this. We have esteemed individuals who now tuning in to listen to Katie price with us. Yeah, let's end this bit with these rather poignant words. It's an old clip from the brilliant Jonathan Pi. You're not really into politics. OkayK,s fair enough. What are you into? Transformers, Pokemon, you fucking child Let's get into the phenomenon phenomenon of meats And if you're like me every time you hear this bloody word, this acronym, I think meatets and tattoos Which is wrong anyway because it's naks and tatties, but I don't know why that's what my head does. So. What is it? Well, an estimated thirteen point five percent of all people aged sixteen to twenty four years old in the UK were not in education, employment or training. And this is up, sadly, this is a figure that is going up gradually. So before we get into it, let's hear a really typical experience from somebody who's highly qualified, educated, and proactive and endlessly having to search for jobs. She's called Jessa Line Kaine, and she was speaking over on TikTok needs or not in education employment or training Oh cururrent buzzword right now and I'm twenty five And I do have a job I work twenty four hours a week And I am looking for a job. I have been since I came back from traveling, which was the second of April I've applied for over one hundred jobs in April over a hundred jobs in Lay I have two degrees an undergraduate in PPE, first class honors My postgraduate was an LLM in compliance and regulation and I've got loads of experience, yet I've had one interview I've in sorry The interview is for a job that would require me doing two days a week in Birmingham and And crazy hard to get a job even if you have Good qualifications and a good range of experience underneath your belt don't understand how this situation has started, but It is just awful. Yeah, it's so demoralising Isn't it? Job hunting is demoralising from what I recall. I've been very fortunate that I've been employment for a long time but job hunting can be quite demoralising let alone in this jobs market, in this cost of living crisis. I speak to people now and the amount of hoops that they have to go through. It is no longer a's say, you know one, two interview process. It can be five stages. And within that stage, I remember actually there was one when again, I'm talking way back, but it's only got harder You do full on presentations full on huge like problem solving, strategy thought out presentations. I remember one because I really want to know this job I printed everything out because I wanted to show it to everyone in the room and I spent a bloody fortune on these A five like really good stock paper printouts of how I was going to approach this blah, blah blah And then I think most of what happens now is you get through, you do all these jobs, the interview stages. and then you might get through to the final stage and you'll get some like shitty response like We haven't secured the budget or we haven't secured the headcount or actually we're having a reorg. And again, that was in my time, let alone now with that cool p of jobs and what's available is so much smaller. And because of AI, not only cutting the jobs, We've also got the fact that AI is actually getting so many more people through the net. because think of the time it used to take to write a cover letter You would shape it, hone it craft it. Now you don't have to do that. So the amount of people bothering to do it has gone up. So you're competing with so many more people. And I saw this actually, someone called Noel Simon wrote, abbsolutely not. And she wrote this over a screen grab and it was from an application, a job application she was doing online. And part of the form reply said Record a video describing why you're the best person for this position Keep the linkth under one minute and include a link in your answer below Record a video like Oh I know. it's just absolutely depressing as hell. The quest to get a job is a job. And I just don't understand why people should be forced to put so much energy and time into, you, essentially what should be an interview process. It is absurd and it has got increasingly hard. And not just that. So you're talking about kind of like job jobs, jobs that you might hope to get start your career. If you look at the kind of job that you want to get when you're sixteen and you want to earn on a Saturday, those are impossible to get now or difficult, really, really difficult. And again, like I'm ten years older than you When I wanted those jobs, they were really easy to come by. I literally would go into my town center and I would walk into maybe ten or twelve places and I'd pretty much Get a job probablyably just hand up and say if youve got any work going at the moment? Yes, we need actually a Saturday going or we need y. or no we haven't' fine, go and look somewhere else. but ultimately you could get a job. It's easy. Whereas my son, When he was at that stage, they were all competing and sort of like there's a lot of people going, No, I can't even get restaurant work. You've got graduates coming out and then competing with these amazing qualifications trying to get those sorts of jobs, let alone a career. And I've got a friend of mine who said, Gemma, would you mind giving my daughter a bit of time? This is a girl again who's come out with some sort of all singing or dancing, amazing degree And she was going for a job where that was like one position and there was something like five hundred people going for it. And she was going through rounds Round, Rounds thought would have given me such bad anxiety and where there was so much put on it and her chances of getting it were so slim. So her mother is not just having to help her with the process, but also manage her expectations and that you might put all this time and effort in and then just get this crushing bloody disappointment. And the reason she asked me to come round is because her daughter is quite quiet, very, very, very highly clever, but her thing is not presentation And as you say, for a job that would require much of that, she was having to get up and sort of do jazz hands and You know, sell herself. So she wanted me to go around and give her a bit of like coaching, which I did and guess what? She didn't get it. She got down to something like the last three But there was part of mej just thinking Cus This is man. A' making these people go through these hoops like this? I'm sorry, you get an idea of whether somebody can do the bloody job or not quite quickly. Stop testing them like it's some kind of bloody Greek fable. I think sometimes it's about extracting ideas. The amount of interviews I have been to where peopleople want your ideas. present how you would approach something. this is how I'd problem solve And actually there's nothing to stop them going a good idea. I take that. Yeah take that idea. And look, there's a reason this topic is suddenly getting the attention it deserves. So it all stems from a report that Alan Milbourne has overseen. So Alan Milbourne was a labour MP for years. I think at one point he was health seecretary. He's now sixty eight years old. He's the chair of the Social Mobility Foundation and he's basically authored this report and Starmer has described it as Really sobering which in a way, I guess is great and positive because We've had years of hearing that young people are just kind of like snowflakes or lazy or people disparaging them And it simply isn't true as Lewis Goodall pointed out on Instagram everybody just want to give a little quick take on something which has been in the news today, which is this It stagering statistic that a million young people are now not in educational employment ull of traading so called needs. It's not actually that staggering because the truth is is that this has been a long time coming. And we need to wake up. we need to wake up for the fact that it is now harder to be young in Britain, ind indeed in many Western countries than it has ever ever been. And the traditional kind of way that we talk about this and the right wing press talk about it, young people being lazy or being snowflakes or whatever, it does not even come close to describe it tough it is. mainly for two reasons. One, we are seeing massive structural changes in the economy. What we seeing it with AI suddenly coming from middle class jobs. In particular, young people's jobs, you young graduates not being taken on in law or in tech or in a lot of the services. Now this has been happening to working class kids for a long time, but it just so happens that where the middle classes are affected, people wake up to it. so it's finally going up the agenda. But the other reason is in a way that we never ever talk about These a factects our societies are becoming orrdinarily old the first time In our history, we have got more old people living in this country than young people, more deaths are starting to happen to them births, we have got more let's put it graphically, more adult nappies being sold than babies nappies or we' just to the point of that anyway. something of it happened in Japan a while ago. And guess what? When you have a society which is grified, when you have the population pyramid inverted, you know what happens You know what happens? young people's problems, they just go lower and lower and lower down in the gea. And all the people's problems go higher and higher and higher, and not least because so much of what he is written about and talked about is conducted through The older people, older people, editing newspapers and so on And so we need to wake up to this and start treating the politics of young people as a category of its own. because otherwise they'll just do what so many are doing and leave the country Yeah, and how many job applications do you have to do where you don't get a response often, you don't get any feedback How many j have to do before you do feel totally demoralized and give up a little bit and then perhaps anxiety kicks in or sort of, you know, your effort is not being rewarded. It's not commensurate. So this whole idea that, you know, people talk about you just graft, you just put the hard work in and then you get it back. and it's like, well, that's not true anymore. Also, Germa, let's say you are one of the lucky ones that does get the job in wherever it is And then it's you know, you start on minimum wage in an economy where everything is just spiraling out of control. our groceries, our mortgages, our rents are whatever. L ye it's demoralizing kind of every step of the ladder. It is. So we're gonna to hear from Alan Milboururn now. Now I thought it was really interesting. This is him speaking on politics, Joe. and there's just a couple of things. So firstly, what he's saying is worth listening to. Bearing in mind, he authored the report. So I would say he's done something really, really constructive for young people. but what I noticed is that because he's of the boomer generation and he's kind of recalling his own youth To some people, they were just s feeling irritated because they thought he sounded so out of touch. So anyway, here's what he had to say. I was like every other adoleson boy, I couldn't get out of bed. and I was delivering morning newspapers, which had never arrived. then One morning of you know mid morning, probably I turned up in the middle of the summer holidays at the newsge and thinking she'd give me my papers to deliver and she said, You sacked. And that was it. And it was like for me, it was like a moment of the only time I've ever been sacked so far in my life, but it did teach me a lesson, which is U If you put in effort, you get a reward. If you don't put in effort, you get something else. Honestly in those days, you could just walk into it. You know, it's not so long ago that people could walk into do I don't know. you could walk into a restaurant and have a CV and say we got new jobs That is just not happening now So that's a conversation to have with employers to say, okay, guys The rungs on their career lad of, the bottom runs have sort of risen up. Young people can't reach them What are we going to do to bring those opportunities down a bit And if employers really want to do that, that's a great thing and the government should be helpinging to do it. So back to my point is that this is the guy who's authored this report and everything he's talking about is just his experience. He can't help being the age that he was. but I think there were some people who saw the clip didn't realize that this guy's do what I's trying to do. And They were a bit annoyed. Quiz Riter Mark said, I want to create a reality TV show where we get boomers to try and get a job in the modern world and see them dealing with the PDFs and re entering their CV again via convoluted application website. Because that Bway was like, you know, this is what I learned and this it's just annoying for people now Beuse it's like, Yo, you were able to learn those lessons. We're not even getting a chance to fail. We're not even getting a chance to screw something up because we would try not to because we know there's nothing else out there Pug life wre Fortunately, he'd saved up enough from his six week summer paper round to buy his mum's Surrey cououncil house in cash Yeah, accidental stuntman. This country has suffered fifty years of chronic underinvestment. Anything of value has been sold, trains are violently expensive, public services have been gutted. There isn't just a cost of living crisis, There's a cost of working crisis And Harona Radruke said, They want somebody who's eighteen with thirty years of experience PhD Yeah That's true. Yeah, there's all that as well. We want you don't have the experience. like how are you supposed to get experience? especially at that entry level stage, like ye sometimes you need to take a little bit of a punt on someone Some of the jobs that I've got, I think people took a punt on me. you know, I didn't have this Like you say I state school. I mean, I had really good grades, but some of the jobs and how I got into the corporate world was, I think someomeone taking a punt Also, thankfully, when I got into I was working at Sky before I got to where I am now and part of that would have been recommendation. I knew someone that worked at the company, who I'd met when I was working for Club eighteen thirty when we were very, very young So, you know, again, it's it's like it's like who you know as well. Yeah. And if you don't have that on your side, gosh. And actually it's so important getting those restaurant jobs, shop jobs, all of those kinds of jobs and you might end up in retail, I know, or you might end up in hospitality. But even if you don't, those were the jobs that really formative for me Taught me so much. your front facing, you're learning like, you know, that hourly wage thing, it makes you think ike Is this what I want to be doing? or is that I know I remember that I used to earn fifteen pounds a day. When I worked in a dry cleaners, that was my first job as a Saturday girl. And I remember then I'd be like I really wanted the new M and M album. Am I going to spend a whole day's wages on my M and M album Those were the choices I start Ied to have to make. the choices you'd have to make. The answer by the way, was yes, because money burns a hole in my pocket. So listen now, I want to play you this clip. So this guy sort of burst onto the mainstream the other day on the Jeremy Vine Show. and I sent the clip to Marin, and I was like, Blood, yeah, this had eleven million views. and this is a fantastically refreshing Energetic from someone who is that kind of age. That said, I've since because I've followed him and stuff. I've seen a lot of other stuff that he's doing and some of it resonates less with me I'm not saying he's the front of all bloody knowledge. And there's actually been a couple of things that he has said as well all language that he's used, I've been like, question marks, but certainly he's worth hearing from. So he's called Elliot Buick and he's on Jeremy Vine and he's on with Kay Burley and somebody else. and well we'll discuss it afterwards, but Burley came across as P't pretty silly in this anyway. Is it that Gen because you're all on your phones, you don't get out anyway? Yeah, who put together the algorithms that got us addicted? I would argue it's the older generation and they're now failing to take responsibility for what they've done. We're not the ones who design social media algorithms more addictive than casinos. We've got some of the best parks in the world in London Why can't you Thank God, My depression's cured No because he's got a park that's probably got dog poo in it that's not been picked up. I mean, seriously, is your solution to this crisis amongst G Z's mental health crisis to build more park. think you don't think there's a crisis. Just on this issue because if we're talking about anxiety in the way that people see their city, there is this very hard narrative propaganda really from the right wing coming, that this is a dangerous city where your phone getst n whichich just isn't based in reality. I think this is just super indicative of the discourse in the UK at the moment. We have one panelist here who's making it about parks, and then we have another one bringing the left right debate trying to polarise things and push your agenda politically And we have maybe a bene of li in Sou Africa. Did you not le the story that you got your political education from Constantine in the Tgonomic we podcast? It's not l right, right You led that When did I make it left right But you' just said it's about I want to talk about how Gen Z are genuinely struggling here. Of course you're making it a left right argument, which I dislike. And this is why I don't do TV by the way, because it's always loveve that you're doing nappy headlines and it's trying to clickbait for the sake of pushing an agenda rather than getting to the important conversations. And that's what I'm fed up with. I think ultimately older generations need to take more responsibility especially in the media space. So I need to correct something. That clip hasn't had eleven million views. At T time of record has had sixteen point eight million views. So blloody hell did that resonate? and I think I think it was that sort of like you've got lovely parks. It was just such a lack of awareness and understanding. Yeah, the thing that actually got me in that clip was the point about, you know the older generations created the phones, they created the algorithms, they created the drug essentially that put it in the hands of these youngsters without any sort of understanding of the impact it was going to have on them and then blame them. for being addicted to them. L These corporations being on them all the time. Yeah, but these corporations exist that you, by the way, these older generations have not got into check corporations exist to make their phones, make their apps, make their products more addictive. Everything is about that dopamine hit, keeping you scrolling, keeping you clicking And then you blame the youngsters. Also, if you haven't got a job, you're gonna have more time to look at your fucking phone, aren't you? It's all sort of a bit of a vicious circle. And of course it goes back to that thing of you'd hope in life, you're progressing. And in many ways we are medical outcomes, for instance, nutrition like this that and the other. however is my parents generation and my generation's been very lucky as well. it was like put effort in pretty much should get back some kind of reward in terms of a career And therefore, that would lead to being able to buy a property, being able to drive a car, have a holiday, have a nice quality of life etcet etc. It isn't good enough anymore to try and try and try and try. And that's just so unfair. The social contract has broken. In another clip, it was interesting because he was saying he had more of a problem with millennials. I don't really understand's weird. Millennials is like that's me. So millennials is nineteen eighty one to nineteen ninety six. I would love to know what the issue is with millennials. Funnily enough, he messaged me, he DMed me Eliot, and he asked me to go on his podcast, but I couldn't make the date he suggested I'd imagine we'd have an interesting conversation soll keep you posted on that trarawers Here's a really really good thread from Rafa Nova, they wrote. So while boomers faced painful monthly interest payments, the house itself was much cheaper relative to wages. Millennials got hit by several major shocks. The two thousand eight financial crisis, many graduated into unemployment, low wages, and unstable jobs Then there was housing inflation. Millennials were delayed entering the housing market while prices surged By the time many had stable incomes Homes cost far more and rents consumed larger portions of income. Student debt explosion, tuition rose much faster than wages, booomers and GenX greediness are responsible for this. Look at this show and who is sitting there discussing topics that don't affect them Let's not even discuss the current failure of the pension scheme and the hyperinflation caused by wars and the current food crisis we are living through. also the heat waves, wildfires and probably even more severe climate crisis ahead of us. Yeah. And that actually props to the Jeremy Vineh because they found that guy clearly online. I thought he's really interesting. Let's get him on and talk about it because he is from that generation. And I thought the contrast was made it particularly. Interesting. Anyway, look, so we've established how bloody shit it is Is there hope? Well, like anything, like anything, whether it's nuclear energy or sort of education or sort of implementing new infrastructure. It takes years. That's the problem. Governments only have five year terms and they're constantly chasing votes and having to look at headlines and all that bollocks But I think labour have a look and there was a big piece in the Guardian and it was really, really interesting because they were saying that if you look at the Netherlands The Dutch meat rate is only five point three percent. so far, far lower. And it's like, well what are the reasons for that? So people like Alan Milburn are trying to go and learn from other countries it seems to be a few factors. So Firstly, you've got vocational education, that's being invested in heavily in the Netherlands, combined with work based learning and apprenticeships So by the age of nineteen, more than half of young Dutch people have got workplace experience and therefore contacts, which really, really helps. The second major driver of it being lower is the welfare state. Now this bit' been left on by right wingers. because actually, very difficult to get benefits. It's harder to get benefits the money that they're saving, they're investing in all the right places Do you see what I mean? So but of course, that is the sort of thing that ends up getting a little bit weaponized. We haven't even mentioned Pat Fadden's comments that came out of the Mandelsen inquiry and all the files McFadden is in the cabinet and he's working pensions. and basically the thing that came out that again got jumped on by all the media was that he said, o, every time I go into a meeting, MPs are asking me what taxes we can raise pay for more benefits. And of course, that just fits beautifully into kind of the theory that labour just want high taxes, high taxes and more and more. welfare bill. Yeah. and it's gone down as in as damaging to the Labour partarty as the comment about there isn't any money. And the thing is, look, again, let's be real. like when we're talking about the welfare bill in this country, which is we can't we kind oft we can't afford it. Like everybody' saying we can't afford it. A third of it is pensions because of this aging economy and actually the triple law. It's just a fucking joke. Triple used to do one. Yeah, even Jeremy we haven't had to listen to recently, but he was on the radio the other day and he was saying, actually, you can still say that pensioners get pension in line with inflation. but the triple Lck gives you more like that's the first place Every is so difficult to do because then those people don't vote for the party? Or is that true Maybe you just have to do this shit. No, of course it is off course it's that Gema. This is the thing that any party and government is always going to have to counter what is right for the country, what is right for the economy versus what is going to keep them in power? And the people that vote are the older generations. I don't know I don't know what were supposed to mobilize the youth because I remember what it was like. I remember when I was twenty something and I couldn't tell you who the Chancellor of the exxchcker was I wasn't interested Yeah. I feel like now, but then I but then the difference I think Then is that I didn't feel like my future was screwed No No, it was just kind of like the adults are in charge And you know, I've got vague political leanings. I kind of like vaguely have ideas on this that and the other, But yeah, I'm not massively invested because it's all much muchness. everything sort of works Vaguely. It, it did. it did. you could get a job You could get a bloody job. Frankly. Now I thought this was interesting on threads as well. I don't know who wrote it, but it doesn't matter. They said, my view is, and this person is fifty six. And they said, I have worked with people in their sixties, seventies, and eighties who are holding board level and senior executive jobs, jobs that were promised to my generation if we workt hard enough, but they've got share options they're waiting on and final salary pension schemes So they're just not going anywhere. People are retiring way later. And so they can't move into those senior roles, which then means the generation behind Dady, Daddy, Daddy d So like there's so many different factors Look, we're going to end this section with a call that is really sad, really sad. So this woman was speaking to Ben Kentish on LBC And I think it really demonstrates the kind of life choices that people of certain generations are having to make now because of the economic climate. I always look forward to having children and it's only dawned on me in the last few years that I think it's been taken out of my hand. I work seven days a week just to pay my rent. You know I've got two degrees, I've worked very hard over the years. I've never not been employed. I've never not worked really hard to get to where I am. I can barely afford to feed my cats. I work so much just to pay rent I was due to start my PhD in my field. I do marine biology. And after COVID, it never really recovered in research science so I'm doing sort of, you know, rubbishy jobs just to get by. and I don't have the time to go actually dedicate, go out and, you know, look at just Meeting people as much as I'd love to. My heart is in it. I would desperately love to have children. I dream of having little daughters that I can make and you know the next generationations' David Aspergh'. That's all I'd love to do. and it actually makes me feel quite emotional. I feel like the decision hass been taken away from me. How sad is that How sad is that? You know what? Gemma? it is really sad. I think we should go to the break and I'm going to dig out What I think is an underrated clip of the week, which is in response to that or I think addresses that point very, very well. So stick with us toers. You do that then, you get into she's going to do tap, tap tapping away and yah But also look, you know, at least obviously, Katie Price's husband has been found. So obviously that's brilliant and sorts everything out Okay, thanks for sticking with us trarawers. I've done my I've done my research, my live trarawling. while we recording because that listening to that caller reminded me of this clip. So I saw this it's a clip that really stuck with me and it's from a Nexus Institute debate. Again, it just just touches upon how we've really screwed over the younger generation. and my God, do we need to get a grip Here it is. I'm thirty years old Not one of my friends has children the one No one's having kids. Do you know how hard you need to abuse a mammal to make them not have children? like for real. Let's let's step here back a moment right now. You have thought of it that way? Yeah, lookook, GP goes up. People have a lot have enough food, you know, and whatever. No one's having kids. And this is across the world This is across both the West, the East, you know everywhere. it's happening There's a thing that happens especially with younger like even younger than me. like the kids are like eighteen today. There's a huge problem where they don't dance No one dances. They go to clubs and they don't dance. Why is this? Because you get recorded Yeah If you're an eighteen year old kid, you go to a club, you get recorded. If you approach a girl and you mess it up, you get recorded. Everything is the penopticon now. So if you had to ask me why, my answer is technology. My answer is social media. My answer is AI. My answer is algorithms. Do you know what datingac algorithms do You know how they optimize they don't optimize you to meet your love of your life. They optimize you to keep coming back to the app. Yeah. And now there's a thing that Basically, we have sold out all of our dating norms, all of interpersonal norms to tech companies without our consent to optimize their ad algorithms.. I think there's a deep thing where we as a society have not dealt with the fact that we have to steward technology responsibly We have treated technology as a wild West. Absute Everyone can do whatever they want. You know, Oh, just sell all of our younger generations dating lives to corporations for profit. And who pays the cost for this? Who has liability? So I think the real problem is is that we are as a society, as a government The generations that came before me and also my generation, I don't want to exclud myself from this, but all the generations came before me Just let technology rip The promise was, if you let technology rip, right, If you let internet rip, there will be democracy Freedom and happiness and economic growth. and where is that? I think my generation is noticing that broken promise. Yeah, Wow. Wow. How' that opening line? Do you know how hard you have to abuse a mammal for it not to procate? And it all comes bloody phones basically. and it's true. Pones and tech. Maybe it'll get to a point because I've noticed as well quite a few of my friends, a few relatives are just like, Ohh I've uninstalled Instagram or like I'm just having a break, likeike can't take it d Maybe you and I will be the last people on earth. wling through social media There won't be much to traraw through because people will just stop posting. But we'll still be here. We'll be like U We've trarowllleded through social media have. We traroll through other things. we could pivot. We could trarol through it, I don't know old old books. There we go. O Bunty comics. Yes I think any excuse to still have our weekly check ins will find a way. That was a great clip. That was a really interesting clip. I have got an underrated thread of the week So different tone Bailey Ses? Slightly different tone, but just yeah it's great. So Serena Williams, the almighty Serena Williams is making a bit of a comeback. She's going to be playing doubles and then everybody's saying she probably be approaching the singles tournaments again. she's forty four. So you Gv posted One in eight men, that is twelve percent of men, say they could win a point in a game of tennis against twenty three time grand Sam winner Serena Williams. And someomebody called Jason wrote onfident in my ability to properly tennis, I take the court. I smile at my opponent Serena does not return the gesture. She'd be prettier if she did, I think. She ss The ball passes cleanly through my skull Oh me instantly Oh my go That that's that. I've got another one here. Ganni Mengel wrote, I'm finally reading June This quote from the book, which is in the first few pages hits hard and trollers This just is everything we've been talking about. Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. but that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them. We're going deep. We're going deep It's going to be a revolution. Right, let's end this tour with a pudding. Thank you so much for listening. We would love you to recommend the podcast to your friends. We've been having a chat today saying we've got to do more marketing because we need and I sound like Liz Trus now We need more grround. need need there's anything you can do. Yeah, need Joim and I basically do this thing where we pour our heart and soul into coming like to the mic and giving you the best content, like talking about the best content. And we give you about we put about ninety five percent of our efforts into that and nothing into growing and marketing. No. Now if we could please rely on you to basically be our marketing arm. Yeah of the troll pod Yeah That'd be really, really helpful Yeah, so hit subscribe. don't know to tell your friends, we'd really appreciate it. We might have exhausted our own social media channels at this point, especially given I forget to put the clips on everything. Oh, well I put it on next and I just get abused It's really fun over there. suuper. Right, pudding time and a, this is brilliant. This is blliant. I was missing a pudding for this episode. And then Marina was like, what about this? I was like, I actually saw this. I should have thought of it myself. It's funny. Jane Sharp is a comedian. She posted this. Now there are a few jobs available. And if you are looking for one at the moment, don't all rush at once because this Sadly is the type of job. that is out there Good luck everyone. I'm looking for an editor. Oh this sounds good. It'll be on a free trial basis for a month. Working for free. Where do I sign up? I'm going to be live streaming for maybe five to eight hours every single day Sounds great. Three ninety second clips made out of it. So that's eight hours plus three hours editing, so Sounds like a dream job. So you know, if you're a stay at home mum I think it'd be a nice little touch. Jackie, you're stay at home, momn't you? Listen, when you're not too busy washing, cleaning, ironing, feeding the kids, buying groceries, wiping backsides and keeping everyone alive on three hours of broken sleep, do you fancy waiting through eight hours of footage at this shirtless noob bed? Yeah, she said she'd love too. Obviously I'll work very closely with you. It's the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it? I'll give you all of the shout outs. Yeah, it's fine, Jackie, iss gonna to give you all of the shout outs to his two hundred YouTube subscribers. Yeah, of course you can use shoutouts to buy school shoes. And obviously I can always pass on my knowledge to you for free. For free We should be paying you